Being fit and getting Covid - Page 2

laurawd · 08-22-21, 08:37 AM

Matt Fitzgerald, a very well-known and VERY fit long-distance runner, suffered from debilitating LONG covid before Delta was a thing and before he could get vaccinated. He is just now recovering (over a year).

Vaccinated folks so far are 95%+ LESS likely to die or be hospitalized from covid, fit or not.

TinaT · 08-22-21, 08:54 AM

When I caught covid last Oct I would say my heart and lungs were in pretty good shape. I was on minimal meds for my BP and ran up and down my stairs all day long.

Getting covid was not what I expected. The fatigue is like nothing I've ever experienced, along with body aches from head to toe. No taste or smell. I ran a temp of 99 to 102 for 15 days. BP spiked and I had to double my meds and the doc added another just to keep it in acceptable numbers.

After Covid: I delt with fatigue for months, the loss of taste and smell lasted 6 weeks. My taste is still effected with foods not always tasting as they should. BP never resumed to "my normal" prior to covid. I am still on all covid prodical doses. The stairs I ran all day long became a mountain to climb.

Bottom line... do your best to stay health, but it's no gaurantee. My 55 year old friend who was "all things fitness" died in dec from covid.

donellda · 08-22-21, 08:56 AM

I think everybody who gets Covid has a different experience. My friend who is healthy and works out has had long haulers since before Christmas. I had another friend who had to use a walker for several months after Covid. My former son-in-law had it earlier this year and said it was just like a cold. You never know how the virus will act.

I worked in a hospital laboratory until I recently retired and we had a very young woman in her 30s who was healthy and physically fit. She was a soccer player. She was in our ICU for about 3 months and died. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. She had 3 small children. Doctors tried everything but this was at the beginning of the pandemic so really the only treatment that was available was convalescent plasma which was very hard to get early in the pandemic. When she finally got her plasma, she had a reaction to it which just made her condition worse.

Definitely keep working out and eat healthy to hopefully prevent a severe case if you get it but the virus seems to surprise us. Always listen to your doctors advice.

prettyinpink · 08-22-21, 11:46 AM

Sometimes too much exercise can be stressful for the immune system.
Long distance runners training for races, for example, increased their risk for getting sick.
https://www.active.com/fitness/artic...-make-you-sick

Fitness isn’t a panacea, but I’d rather go into an illness with a decent baseline level of fitness than not. And maybe I wouldn’t be pushing myself to my absolute limits in the middle of a viral surge.

TinaT, sending good thoughts for your continued recovery. That sounds so hard.

Nuggie's Auntie · 08-22-21, 12:03 PM

I'm so sorry to hear some of you have had it and had a rough time. And for those who lost friends, loved ones or acquaintances, you have my condolences. Indeed, this virus is bizarre--some people have such bad reactions, some have practically none.

As for general wellness, it's true that a healthy diet and exercise are no guarantees. I was recently tested for nutrient deficiencies. I eat a diet that is very nutritious by any measure and exercise regularly. I still had several deficiencies. It turns out I might have a genetic mutation (that is apparently very common) that makes it difficult for me to convert certain nutrients to their usable forms. I'm now on a targeted, medical grade supplementation plan that will hopefully address some of these issues.

The bottom line is we all just have to do our best and work with what we've got!

bubbles76 · 08-22-21, 01:57 PM

On the other end, my mother is not very fit at all. At the time prediabetic, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, very overweight (maybe about 80 pounds, all in the torso area), and does not work out. She is also close to 70. She caught Covid and breezed through. She was tired, but that's it. She had no other symptoms. In fact, the only reason she got checked for Covid is because a member at her church caught it, and passed it to half the congregation.

So I would say it's a crap shoot on how your body is going to react.

Taiga · 08-22-21, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prettyinpink

Sometimes too much exercise can be stressful for the immune system.
Long distance runners training for races, for example, increased their risk for getting sick.
https://www.active.com/fitness/artic...-make-you-sick

Fitness isn’t a panacea, but I’d rather go into an illness with a decent baseline level of fitness than not. And maybe I wouldn’t be pushing myself to my absolute limits in the middle of a viral surge.

....

This. You cannot rely on descriptions of health at all to predict response to Covid---esp descriptions in the media or general public. Prolonged, intense exercise suppresses the immune system and this has been well documented in sports medicine for decades.

And how many news articles profess death by Covid in a person with no health issues, without actually knowing health status? Plenty of people avoid the doctor and never have to hear the diagnosis of obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc. but that doesn't mean they are healthy. There are also plenty of people who are smokers and eat junk food and have a highly inflammatory diet. Plenty of people who suppress their immune system through high stress/no sleep/nutritional deficiencies. How many of these seemingly healthy individuals had severe low vitamin D levels? All of these factors affect risk even if they aren't acknowledged or don't show on the surface.
ETA: I guess my main point is that many of the things that we focus on here (preventive exercise, good nutrition, educating ourselves about ways to improve our health etc) may be helping us in ways that don't get highlighted in folks who are projected as healthy but may have higher risk.

IMHO, we need to take care of ourselves the best we can and relax as much as possible.

LoveVA · 08-23-21, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taiga

This. You cannot rely on descriptions of health at all to predict response to Covid---esp descriptions in the media or general public. Prolonged, intense exercise suppresses the immune system and this has been well documented in sports medicine for decades.

And how many news articles profess death by Covid in a person with no health issues, without actually knowing health status? Plenty of people avoid the doctor and never have to hear the diagnosis of obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc. but that doesn't mean they are healthy. There are also plenty of people who are smokers and eat junk food and have a highly inflammatory diet. Plenty of people who suppress their immune system through high stress/no sleep/nutritional deficiencies. How many of these seemingly healthy individuals had severe low vitamin D levels? All of these factors affect risk even if they aren't acknowledged or don't show on the surface.
ETA: I guess my main point is that many of the things that we focus on here (preventive exercise, good nutrition, educating ourselves about ways to improve our health etc) may be helping us in ways that don't get highlighted in folks who are projected as healthy but may have higher risk.

IMHO, we need to take care of ourselves the best we can and relax as much as possible.

<where's that Like button?>

I have been saying this very thing to myself during this whole pandemic! I always take with a grain of salt media declarations of "no health issues."

fit granny · 08-23-21, 01:59 PM

I was very fit and healthy and a life long exerciser (age 69), doing mostly Cathe and Les Mills in recent years. My husband and I got Covid in January, him mild, me severe and hospitalized.
I've recovered from the blood clots in my lungs and the Covid pneumonia but still have hypoxia, scar tissue and fibroids. I'm on oxygen and finding it very difficult to exercise without my oxygen saturation dropping to below 90. I don't know why this happened to me or what to expect in the future.

Lori_Michigan · 08-23-21, 03:30 PM

I thankfully haven't had covid, but I did have a pretty bad reaction to the vaccine. My entire right pinky and side of hand had severe nerve pain for about 8 weeks. I also suffered some bad motor skills and just felt completely odd for those 8 weeks. My doctor advised me to not get the second shot since he feared that I could develop Guillian Barre syndrome and end up hospitalized. Thankfully it resolved for the most part but I still feel it occasionally, and I had that first shot in April.

My son is 15, nearly 16, and he also had horrible nerve pain in his arm and debilitating headaches above his eyes that were also nerve related. He barely completed the last few weeks of school. His blood pressure wasn't stable either when I took him to the doctor a week after the shot. His doctor also advised him to not get the second shot for fear of myocarditis and worse nerve damage. He also still gets the nerve pain in his head occasionally now and he had the first shot in May.

But none of my other immediate family had reactions to either shot. My husband, who is 49, rather obese, and does zero exercise and doesn't have the greatest eating habits, was absolutely fine after both shots. But I work out with weights 5 times a week, eat well, generally take really good care of myself, my vitamin D level is in the good range, and I haven't had a cold since 2018. But yet I had a pretty severe vaccine reaction. You just never know!

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08-22-21, 08:37 AM
laurawd Join Date: Sep 2006	Matt Fitzgerald, a very well-known and VERY fit long-distance runner, suffered from debilitating LONG covid before Delta was a thing and before he could get vaccinated. He is just now recovering (over a year). Vaccinated folks so far are 95%+ LESS likely to die or be hospitalized from covid, fit or not.

08-22-21, 08:54 AM
TinaT Join Date: Nov 2001	When I caught covid last Oct I would say my heart and lungs were in pretty good shape. I was on minimal meds for my BP and ran up and down my stairs all day long. Getting covid was not what I expected. The fatigue is like nothing I've ever experienced, along with body aches from head to toe. No taste or smell. I ran a temp of 99 to 102 for 15 days. BP spiked and I had to double my meds and the doc added another just to keep it in acceptable numbers. After Covid: I delt with fatigue for months, the loss of taste and smell lasted 6 weeks. My taste is still effected with foods not always tasting as they should. BP never resumed to "my normal" prior to covid. I am still on all covid prodical doses. The stairs I ran all day long became a mountain to climb. Bottom line... do your best to stay health, but it's no gaurantee. My 55 year old friend who was "all things fitness" died in dec from covid. __________________ TinaT. Faith - Family - Fitness Keep It Simple

08-22-21, 08:56 AM
donellda Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada	I think everybody who gets Covid has a different experience. My friend who is healthy and works out has had long haulers since before Christmas. I had another friend who had to use a walker for several months after Covid. My former son-in-law had it earlier this year and said it was just like a cold. You never know how the virus will act. I worked in a hospital laboratory until I recently retired and we had a very young woman in her 30s who was healthy and physically fit. She was a soccer player. She was in our ICU for about 3 months and died. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. She had 3 small children. Doctors tried everything but this was at the beginning of the pandemic so really the only treatment that was available was convalescent plasma which was very hard to get early in the pandemic. When she finally got her plasma, she had a reaction to it which just made her condition worse. Definitely keep working out and eat healthy to hopefully prevent a severe case if you get it but the virus seems to surprise us. Always listen to your doctors advice. __________________ Donna

08-22-21, 11:46 AM
prettyinpink Join Date: Jun 2009	Sometimes too much exercise can be stressful for the immune system. Long distance runners training for races, for example, increased their risk for getting sick. https://www.active.com/fitness/artic...-make-you-sick Fitness isn’t a panacea, but I’d rather go into an illness with a decent baseline level of fitness than not. And maybe I wouldn’t be pushing myself to my absolute limits in the middle of a viral surge. TinaT, sending good thoughts for your continued recovery. That sounds so hard.

08-22-21, 12:03 PM
Nuggie's Auntie Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: I love that dirty water...	I'm so sorry to hear some of you have had it and had a rough time. And for those who lost friends, loved ones or acquaintances, you have my condolences. Indeed, this virus is bizarre--some people have such bad reactions, some have practically none. As for general wellness, it's true that a healthy diet and exercise are no guarantees. I was recently tested for nutrient deficiencies. I eat a diet that is very nutritious by any measure and exercise regularly. I still had several deficiencies. It turns out I might have a genetic mutation (that is apparently very common) that makes it difficult for me to convert certain nutrients to their usable forms. I'm now on a targeted, medical grade supplementation plan that will hopefully address some of these issues. The bottom line is we all just have to do our best and work with what we've got! __________________ Check out my blog: A Mom Walks Into A Barre

08-22-21, 01:57 PM
bubbles76 VF Supporter Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: New Jersey	On the other end, my mother is not very fit at all. At the time prediabetic, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, very overweight (maybe about 80 pounds, all in the torso area), and does not work out. She is also close to 70. She caught Covid and breezed through. She was tired, but that's it. She had no other symptoms. In fact, the only reason she got checked for Covid is because a member at her church caught it, and passed it to half the congregation. So I would say it's a crap shoot on how your body is going to react. __________________ "You humans have the potential to be the most wonderful beings there are - if you can get past all these enormous stupid spots you seem to have in your hearts. It's not your fault. You just don't know how to work your hearts right yet. That's why there are dogs." - Jim Butcher, Zoo Day

08-23-21, 01:59 PM
fit granny Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Minnesota	I was very fit and healthy and a life long exerciser (age 69), doing mostly Cathe and Les Mills in recent years. My husband and I got Covid in January, him mild, me severe and hospitalized. I've recovered from the blood clots in my lungs and the Covid pneumonia but still have hypoxia, scar tissue and fibroids. I'm on oxygen and finding it very difficult to exercise without my oxygen saturation dropping to below 90. I don't know why this happened to me or what to expect in the future.

08-23-21, 03:30 PM
Lori_Michigan Join Date: Feb 2014	I thankfully haven't had covid, but I did have a pretty bad reaction to the vaccine. My entire right pinky and side of hand had severe nerve pain for about 8 weeks. I also suffered some bad motor skills and just felt completely odd for those 8 weeks. My doctor advised me to not get the second shot since he feared that I could develop Guillian Barre syndrome and end up hospitalized. Thankfully it resolved for the most part but I still feel it occasionally, and I had that first shot in April. My son is 15, nearly 16, and he also had horrible nerve pain in his arm and debilitating headaches above his eyes that were also nerve related. He barely completed the last few weeks of school. His blood pressure wasn't stable either when I took him to the doctor a week after the shot. His doctor also advised him to not get the second shot for fear of myocarditis and worse nerve damage. He also still gets the nerve pain in his head occasionally now and he had the first shot in May. But none of my other immediate family had reactions to either shot. My husband, who is 49, rather obese, and does zero exercise and doesn't have the greatest eating habits, was absolutely fine after both shots. But I work out with weights 5 times a week, eat well, generally take really good care of myself, my vitamin D level is in the good range, and I haven't had a cold since 2018. But yet I had a pretty severe vaccine reaction. You just never know!